Thursday, April 15, 2021

Butterflies, Tulips & Taxes!!

 Tax season is always the worst for the hubs and I.
We have a separate businesses for each property we own.
The State of New Jersey requires so many different returns and vouches,
your head starts spinning before you can even finish.
I would never wait until April 15th,
 but we work with our accountant and he never seems to be ready to finalize things until the 14th.
Then there are the checks to be written, we always owe money...
I feel pretty drained, both emotionally and financially when we are finished.

But we are finished!

Black swallowtail #2 emerged yesterday and it was a nice day, 
so we were able to release him.
I am pretty sure this is a male, Liz will know.
Liz, male or female? send me a text!

Someone is eating my tulips.
I conferred with Google and Google says,
"Squirrels, Chipmunks, Rabbits or Deer" will eat the heads right off of tulips.
Looking at the way the heads have been eaten cleanly off, 
and the green stem is not damaged, 
my money is with deer. 
One of my neighbors has seen images of deer on her "Ring Doorbell" camera.
I sprinkled red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper around the tulip beds.
When I checked them yesterday, there was no further buds missing.
Fingers crossed, that does the trick.

Wishing you all a bright and beautiful day!

15 comments:

R's Rue said...

😍

Ruth Hiebert said...

Oh I hope you can keep the nibblers away, so that you can enjoy those flowers.

Marie Smith said...

Wow. Deer can be pests. How did anyone discover that red pepper flakes or cayenne would discourage them? Amazes me!

Ruth S said...

We were landlords for 35 years. No more!

Linda said...

I know you are glad to get those taxes done!!

Bonnie K said...

Seems like there is always something after our flowers. Good luck.

The Padre said...

Congrats On The Tax Prep - Lovely Butterfly - Now, Enjoy This Weekend

Cheers

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

Lovely capture of the Swallowtail on the tulip. We could not grow tulips here, they were always disappearing. Have a great day and a happy weekend!

Conniecrafter said...

We still have to get our taxes done but the state and federal both gave an extension so hopefully this week, I hate putting it off but hubby hates doing them so here we are.
such pretty colors on the butterfly. I didn't know animals ate flowers until all of my sunflowers were eaten one year, and all we had around were bunnies so I am thinking that is who ate ours. I thought all I had to worry about was the vegetable garden with them. I will have to remember the spices if I try planting them again.

♥ Liz ♥ said...

Oh I'm so glad we pay tax as we earn here in the UK. It was always a nightmare, when we lived in Texas, to get all the forms in on time. I'm looking forward to seeing how many butterflies you get this year. :0)

Debbie said...

oooooh i can't wait until we can say that. the hubs is good at it, dealing with the tenants. i am good at doing the paperwork, but i would love to be free of it!!

Brian King said...

Gorgeous butterfly! Individual taxes are bad enough. I wouldn't want to wade through the piles of paperwork you have to.

Lowcarb team member said...

Yay ... to having all the paperwork and forms etc done.

I do hope that the red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper around the tulip beds do the trick!

All the best Jan

LeAnn said...

Oh, those deer do like to eat branches and flowers. We had a struggle with them in Spokane. I am happy you got your taxes done. I always make my husband wait to pay until the last minute. Only because I think if you send it in earlier they make money on interest. I'm probably wrong, but that's what I think.
Blessings and hugs!

Susanne said...

Fabulous snapshot! Luckily we dealt with taxes weeks ago. Our tax guy is retiring, so he had the help of a younger guy that will be taking over for him. So things got done early this year because they were double-teaming. I always remind myself that I wouldn't be paying taxes if we had not made any money - that always makes it easier. ;-)